Loy Yang A power station

Loy Yang A power station is owned by Loy Yang Power, which in turn is owned by Great Energy Alliance Corporation (GEAC). (The two largest shareholders in GEAC are AGL and Tokyo Electric Power Company).

The power station is located near Traralgon and in 2009 it was estimated to have emitted 18.81 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2e).

Power station
The power station has a nominal output of 2210 megawatts of electricity which Loy Yang Power states supplies "the equivalent of one third of the State's electricity needs". The power station comprises four generating units - three 560 megawatt units and one 535 megawatt unit. The power station burns brown coal from the adjacent Loy Yang mine.

The first two generating units were commissioned in 1984 and the second two in 1987. The power station, which is the largest brown coal fired power station in Australia, was assessed in 2003 as having an average annual "sent out thermal efficiency" of approximately 31% (HHV).

Protests
On September 3, 2007, activists from Real Action on Climate Change chained themselves to the coal conveyor belt from the Loy Yang mine which supplies coal to the brown-coal-fired Loy Yang A Power Station and Loy Yang B Power Station in Traralgon, Australia. Two people, and others hung several large banners from the plant. The action took place several days before an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Sydney, and was intended to draw attention to Prime Minister John Howard's failure to limit Australian carbon emissions. Four people were arrested.

Waste disposal
On its website, Loy Yang Power states that adjacent to the power station is a 56 hectare ash pond containing 9.8 million cubic metres of ash. "The ash pond is used to collect the ash and dust removed from the boiler and draft plant of both Loy Yang Power and Loy Yang B. The ash and dust is mixed with water to form a slurry, which is pumped, to the ash pond. The ash and dust then settles from the slurry and the water is recycled back to the power station to be reused in the ash disposal process. Excess saline waste from all Latrobe Valley generators is pumped to the Loy Yang Ash Pond for disposal via an ocean outfall."

National Pollutant Inventory Data
The Australian's Government's National Pollutant Inventory lists emissions from the Loy Yang A power station for 2008/2009 as being:

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